An exhibition of my paintings of car plant interiors begins at The British Motor Museum next Thursday 16th August and runs until the end of September. I have a particular interest in innovation, technology, our vision of the industrial future and how these facets of modern life are presented in an ever-changing landscape. The car industry is rapidly innovating and presenting exciting new technologies to the world and my work is focused on capturing these new and significant

What an amazing opportunity to spend Saturday painting on the manufacturing floor at Jaguar Land Rover in Solihull as part of their weekend festival. The experience of working from my subject matter in situ was so different to working in my studio. The colours and the structures seemed enhanced and the sounds of the machines and the robots added to the intensity of the experience. I’d love to do it again and spend more time there. In the meantime, I’m finishing the painting o

Continuing my series of car factory interiors I have been commissioned to undertake a live painting event at Jaguar Land Rover in Solihull this weekend to celebrate their 70th anniversary. I have already visited the body parts manufacturing floor, a fascinating interior of complex horizontal and vertical structures with some imposing robots and eerie Land Rover skeletons. I'm really looking forward to the challenge of trying to capture the essence of the place in just one day

One of the exercises I like to do with my students is to ask them to draw something that is very small on a much larger scale. This is often quite a challenge especially to students who haven't drawn for a long time. A large piece of paper is daunting and we feel quite exposed at the prospect of working so large. But if you continue to work really small you are not able to represent as much as you can see. Take an object such as the simple screw for example. If you draw that

I am enjoying Andrew Marr’s “A short book about Drawing” documenting his love of drawing and how it helped him recover following his stroke. Like Marr I agree that “drawing has meaning, it immerses you freshly in the planet you were born on”. When I teach I feel real satisfaction when my students start returning after a few weeks of classes with me to say “I look at everything differently now”. It is only when we start to think about committing what we see to paper that we re

I have just listened to “The Art of Now: Dangerous places” on Radio 4. An amazing programme about the bravery and work done by artists living and working in conflict zones. The presenter Errollyn Wallen asks why and what does it achieve. She ultimately concludes. “Every artist asks, 'what’s the point of this, what good can it do?'. Very important questions. They help us work out what artists can do that nobody else can. All your training as an artist only matters if you can s

When I’m beginning a new project, it’s often a challenge to know where to start. It’s one of the most difficult aspects of being a painter, but I know the best start is to pick up a pencil and get drawing. Reading an interview in The Guardian with Paula Rego, she holds this view and feels ”You learn so much drawing from life, you have to look so carefully. It’s very difficult to actually see what’s there, the more you do it, the better you get at looking and that’s a discipli